Senior Citizens

[eitijan]

Experts believe that senior citizens with higher than average cholesterol and their families develop a predisposition to cardiovascular disease are more likely to die at an age below that of their life expectancy.

A) and their families develop a predisposition to cardiovascular disease
B) whose families have a predisposition to cardiovascular disease.
C) and a predisposition to cardiovascular disease runs in the family
D) whose families have a predisposition to cardiovascular disease running in them.
E) with a predisposition to cardiovascular disease running in their family.

OA B

Why option C is wrong?
Experts please comment.

[fabiocafarelli]

Option C is wrong for the following reason. The sentence that it makes refers first to senior citizens with higher than average cholesterol and then to the notion that a predisposition to cardiovascular disease runs in the family. It connects the two with AND. But AND cannot connect them, because the first is a phrase (there is no verb), and the second a clause (there is a subject and a finite verb) - an independent clause, in fact. Phrases cannot be glued to clauses: AND should connect a phrase to a phrase, or a clause to a clause.

Furthermore, if you look at the continuation of the sentence, you will see that the choice of C makes it into nonsense. What is the meaning of a predisposition ... runs in the family are more likely to die? It is impossible to understand this statement.

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